It was so quiet and dark—peaceful, in a way. I found myself even enjoying it at first. No obnoxious shouts and laughter. No goofy one-liners or terrible southern-slanged jokes. Nothing.

However, the feeling of joy soon ebbed away to the severe boredom. No bank robbing, no pillow forts, no video games, none of Gizmo's annoying insults, none of Mammoth's revolting way of eating. The peace and quiet was good, but I missed the feeling of stealing, the adrenaline that pumped through my veins every time we broke the law or whenever we fought the Titans...

The Titans...

I was beginning to remember now. The thoughts were hazy at first, but I was starting to remember. I was part of an Academy, brought in by that Brother Blood guy. Simple life. Went to class, took exams, avoided dances. It was...nice.

Then that Teen Titan character...Cyborg, that's it. He came disguised as some ruthless thug named Stone. I remember...he and the Teen Titans destroyed our Academy.

I saved that student...Angel was her name...I remember...having a crush on her, not that I would of told her even if I could speak... We parted ways shortly after, something about "lack of communication". I was alone for awhile then...I used my powers and stole to survive, utilizing what I learned from the school...

A few months later, Brother Blood was captured. It was the Teen Titans again...I was starting to grow tired of seeing their name everywhere...taking apart my life...

I met more fellow HIVE students shortly after. Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth, Billy Numerous, and See-More. I never really knew any of them at a personal level, but they welcomed me in with open arms. Though, I think it was more because of my powers that they bothered with me at all...Not like we had any sort of meaningful conversations.

We made a pretty decent team for awhile. We did what we want— stole what we want. I was beginning to enjoy myself like I did back at the Academy.

It was then that the Brotherhood of Evil contacted us. Apparently they were tracking down all enemies of the Titans and were planning to take down the whole mess of them through a combined effort of all of their mortal enemies. I wanted nothing more to do with Titans or schemes or plots.

The others seemed to agree. Jinx was the only one who seemed excited about the idea of working with them.

More months passed after speaking with the Brotherhood and things seemed to be back to normal. The Titans East were shipped back to Steel City after getting rid of Control Freak and the city became easier to rob than ever. See-More and I soon became quite the pair of thieves— combining his sensory abilities with my teleportation ones made stealing a lot more fun and exciting. Finally, things were starting to look up.

But...no...Things did not stay that way...That guy...Flash...Kid Flash. "Honorary Titan" was what he was called...

Titans. That word burned in my head. It tore against the emotions I refused to feel.

Kid Flash arrived and ruined everything...he and Jinx. Our base—our home was destroyed. He took Jinx away from us...

Thoughts going blurry again...I can't keep up...Brotherhood found us...we separated...fought the Raven girl...Brain...told us it was over...Titan's finished...everyone gathered to celebrate...See-More wasn't there...we were...

Attacked? Tricked? Out-maneuvered?

The Brain was a fool; he counted his pieces out before collecting them. The remaining Titan's attacked us...Raven...my target...was one of the attackers. We tried to stay and fight...but it wasn't us. We weren't here to do supreme evil. Just wanted to live free...

Gizmo decided it was time to leave...I remember...I remember it all...We tried to run...to get away, but...

Jinx...Jinx and Kid Flash stopped us...our former leader attacked us and Kid Flash...

Did what? ...Can't remember. Too fast. He was always too fast.

But, whatever happened, now it was just me. No Titans...no Brain...no HIVE...no Brother Blood...no friends...just m—

A great weight hit my body like a ton of bricks. All at once, I was freed from the blurry, dreamlike, world inside my head and met, face-first, with something hard and cold...a floor?

I tried to rise, but my arms and legs felt like jell-o. My cape fell around me like a shroud. With a great deal of effort, I managed to push myself up a little bit using my arms which were shaking like leaves.

"Don't worry, the weakness is only temporary," a voice spoke. "It is not often that someone is awakened after being frozen for nearly six months."

Frozen? Six months? With an unheard groan from my muscles, I forced my feet to plant themselves on the ground; my legs shaking worse than my arms. Nevertheless, I rose slowly.

Feeling the blood rush down from my head, I stood there in a daze for several moments.

"Tougher than you look, I see...Good," the voice said, clearer now. It sounded human, female, but also...computerized?

I rubbed a gloved hand over my eyes and, slowly, the fogginess began to drift away, soon revealing to me a large, expansive underground-warehouse-looking place. Very familiar. But what I found to be talking to me was far, far from familiar.

"Kyd Wykkyd, is it?" the small, hovering, robotic orb that the voice came from asked me.

I simply stared back into it; the large red lens that took up most of its "face" reflected my image perfectly, almost like a mirror. I watched myself slowly nod.

"You most likely do not know me, but my name is Blackfire," the robot continued, bobbing up and down as it hovered in the air. "I have heard about you and you're...friends, the Brotherhood of Evil's, little mishap with the Titans, so I decided to send this android here to come and rescue you."

I was beginning to regain a little more control over my body. As the thing talked, I looked around the nearly empty hideout, vaguely remembering what went down six months ago. My wandering eyes stopped when they fell upon the entire cast of Teen Titans villains.

Mad Mod, Control Freak, Johnny Rancid, Killer Moth, the Puppet King, Mento, Madame Rouge, Monsieur Mallah, the Brain...and my group. I walked up to their frozen prison. Their faces were contorted to looks of extreme surprise and horror. I silently placed a hand against the ice.

"It took me awhile to build this android and equip it with a laser powerful enough to set you free. Unfortunately, that was all the power it had. One prisoner, and I chose you."

I slowly turned from the guys to the strange, floating droid. Its round, red lens was still trained directly at me.

"I am a prisoner as well, Kyd Wykkyd, just like you were. Though where I am held cannot be broken into by a mere robot. I went to great lengths and risks to free you...I need you."

I raised a brow. Someone needed me? For more than just stealing? Who is this Blackfire...?

"If you release me, I will return the favor by releasing the rest of your friends," Blackfire continued. The droid hovered a little closer to me and my reflection grew in its lens. "So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?"

I stood there, pondering. I could leave now— use my powers to take me far away from here and never look back...but if I did that I would be alone. Really alone. Even though my these guys weren't really, really my friends, they were as close as you could get.

Plus, I didn't really want to go back to stealing by myself... and besides, how hard could busting someone out of jail really be?

Again, I watched as my reflection nodded to the android that Blackfire used to communicate.

"Splendid. I figured you would agree," the woman said. I could easily hear the smile in her voice. "Now, please, come closer. There is something I need to show you before we begin..."

I raised a brow for the second time, but I slowly inched myself towards the orb. I mean, what harm could such a thing do?

I found the answer sooner than I expected when a hidden flap flew open from beneath the robot's lens. Before I could react, a large claw sprung from within it and gripped itself around my neck. I barely had time to step back before it released itself and flew back into the robot, the flap snapping shut.

I stood there in a surprised daze for merely a second before I felt a tight grip enclose itself around my neck. I looked down and found myself looking directly at a large, metallic collar. In a panic, I gripped it and tried to pull it off. It didn't even budge.

"Just in case you have any second thoughts," Blackfire said. I could hear a much bigger smile in her words now. "This collar will track you no matter where you decide to teleport to and I shall not remove it until I am free once more."

With an unheard sigh, I released the collar and shot the robot a dirty look. I could tell this deal was going to get worse before it got any better.

...

*Author's Note* 

And so begins a tale both strange and dark. Following a young teen as he embarks on a mission to rescue someone with no small amount of snark. 

What did you guys think about this little opening sequence? A little short, but I was hoping to catch those who may not remember the end of this particular arc in the original Teen Titans show. Like it or hate it, feel free to let me know what you think!